Tennessee’s new House speaker Cameron Sexton made his first stop in Hamilton County to meet with local elected officials and lawmakers Thursday.
It was part of a multicity tour as the 48-year-old, who has been in office less than a month, works to rebuild trust among residents across the state after the resignation of former speaker Glen Casada.
In a special session called by Gov. Bill Lee on Aug. 23, Sexton was elected speaker with no opponent and overwhelming bipartisan support. That followed weeks of controversy that saw Casada caught in a series of scandals that drew backlash from fellow Republicans. His own caucus ultimately voted to approve a no-confidence motion, and he resigned on Aug. 2.
Sexton said Thursday his primary goal is to build unity and work cooperatively with the rest of the General Assembly.
“We have a great delegation of members from all over the state,” he said. “We want to empower the members to be able to take their passions and use it for the state of Tennessee and allow members to have their voices heard even if we disagree or our ideologies differ and allow us to work together when we can and when we can’t to understand that we aren’t going to agree on everything.”